Matthew 9:22: “Daughter be encouraged, your faith has made you well.” 

Mark 5:34: “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, your suffering is over.”  

Luke 8:48: “Daughter, he said to her, “Your faith has made you well, go in peace.” 

Three gospels report the same event. The woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, going to doctor after doctor, giving all the money she had and still not getting better; an outcast, considered unclean in her community. She braved it all when she heard about Jesus. She did not waiver or think “maybe I can ask him” or “maybe he’ll consider healing me” or “it’s hopeless, why bother trying?” which I'm sure she had considered several times through the years.

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n these verses, it’s not human healing that is happening, but Jesus’ ability to heal or calm nature. After the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and all the healing that Jesus had done, he and the disciples got into a boat to cross to the other side of the lake. Jesus rested and went to sleep, which is completely understandable because Jesus’ body was human, and all human bodies get tired. The storm didn’t rest. Although most of the disciples were seasoned fishermen, they were afraid. That says to me that this was no ordinary storm.

What they did have with them now that they never had before, was Jesus. Yet still, they feared.

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There’s a short version and a long version to that questions, this is the short(ish) version  (we’ve all got things to do today!) 

In 2018 I decided to become the artist I always wanted to be, but couldn’t decide what area to focus on. Pottery was my main hobby for over ten years, so seemed the natural choice, although there were other options (quilting, painting, drawing, sewing, embroidery, crochet etc.) But I overlooked writing. I wrote stories and poems since childhood, loved ‘painting with words,’ crafting them into sentences that inspired or evoked emotions, and gave instructions or directions. Why not writing?? Doubt got in the way. “Who would want to read what I wrote?”

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I arranged this book differently than my first book, 30 Days of Joy: A Devotional. I’ve arranged this one by topic, gathering similar testimonies from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John so that we can compare them closer to each other. It’s surprising how such similar stories inspired similar but different devotionals. Over the next few blog entries, I’ll provide a few samples. Let me know what you think! (Please remember, “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” constructive criticism is always welcome, but negativity for the sake of negativity will be removed.)

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“For the joy of the Lord is your strength.” I love that line. Not ‘the rules,’ ‘the anger,’ ‘the judgement,’ but “the JOY of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah was talking about celebration. This is just after the Israelites returned from captivity in Babylon and had rebuilt the city walls, and Ezra read to them from the book of the Law of Moses. People were sad, but he instructed people to celebrate, to share with others this sacred day. “Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

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How easy do you find it to be full of joy on a regular basis? Me too. It is not always easy. Things may be going well, we have a good start to the day, then we spill our coffee or tea. ‘Not a problem, I’ll just clean that up.’ And then there’s not a cloth around or you are out of paper towels. You manage to get that sorted, then your car tire is low, so you have to stop by the gas station to put air in it. The machine only takes quarters, and you’ve only got bills. Sigh. We’ve all had those sorts of days.

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Every story has a beginning, just as every good story has a compelling ending. And I’m not really a fan of those shows with neverending cliffhangers, although that is most often how we live our lives.

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